Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Pearson's ReadyGen Common Core Texts Full of Errors

Teachers
across the city are reporting problems with the new reading and writing
textbooks recommended by the Department of Education. Not only were books
delivered more than a month into the school year in some cases, but the lessons
from testing and publishing giant Pearson are poorly planned, too long and full
of mistakes.

“They are
loaded with errors,” said Rebecca Murphy, a third-grade special education
teacher at Public School 91 in Queens.

The
mistakes include a third-grade workbook page on the text “The Case of the
Gasping Garbage” that asks students questions about another reading entirely, a
page in a kindergarten workbook printed upside down, and teachers’ manuals that
simply don’t match the student texts.

As part of
the new Common Core curriculum, the city recommended elementary-school
principals purchase either the Pearson’s ReadyGEN textbooks or one other
alternative .

Officials
said teachers might be having trouble because the materials are new. “Individual
teachers have wide discretion over which parts to use, and while some teachers
may be struggling during this transition, that doesn’t justify attacks on the
instructional value of the curriculum,” said schools spokesman Devon Puglia.

Teachers’
union head Michael Mulgrew responded: “The Department of Ed, as usual, is
taking no responsibility for their complete screw-up.”

The
materials are part of the same Pearson curriculum that, as the Daily News
reported last month asks kindergarten kids to draw pictures of vocabulary words
like “responsibility” and “distance.”

Pearson faulted the distributor for delivery
delays this fall. “This was always intended to be a rolling implementation,”
said spokeswoman Susan Aspey.